CNNGo.com

High-speed bomb-detecting airport boarding gate unveiled
AirAsia Japan to launch flights to Incheon
Would you pay US$50 for a cup of elephant dung coffee?
New in China: 'Wolf-blocking' subway platforms planned in Wuhan
iReport: Travel photo of the day -- cute monkeys in a hot tub

High-speed bomb-detecting airport boarding gate unveiled

Posted: 11 Oct 2012 11:50 PM PDT

departure gates Can the boarding gate "sniff" out explosives as efficiently as a good ol' fashioned dog?

Japanese technology firm Hitachi unveiled last week a prototype of a high-speed bomb-detection boarding gate for airports.

Working with The Nippon Signal Co. and the University of Yamanashi, engineers created a gate that uses high sensitivity mass spectrometry technology to detect the presence of explosive compounds.

Basically, as the passenger swipes their boarding pass on the gate, a short puff of air is blown on their hand to lift and collect minute particles that are then analyzed for explosive compounds.

A similar technology was introduced to U.S. airports in 2005 in the form of puffer machines. However, those machines were pulled after a trial period due to technical difficulties. The puffer machines can process 180 people per hour.

AirAsia Japan to launch flights to Incheon

Posted: 11 Oct 2012 07:31 PM PDT

by CNNGo staff

Beginning October 28, ANA affiliate low-budget carrier AirAsia Japan will be adding an Incheon-Narita route to its international flight lineup.

The new Tokyo-Incheon flight will depart daily at 2:15 p.m. while Incheon-Tokyo flights will depart from Incheon at 5:45 p.m. every day.

Flight duration is approximately two hours, and all flights will be operated on a 180-seat Airbus A320 aircraft.

Korean soccer star Park Ji-Sung, the captain of English club Queens Park Rangers, is the face of the marketing campaign for the new route.

Although the announcement claims that the base fare for seats will be on sale "from as low as ₩2,000 (approximately US$1.80)," a quick price check for an Incheon-Narita return flight during a weekend in November showed the promotional "all-included" fare to be ₩278,200 (US$250).

Would you pay US$50 for a cup of elephant dung coffee?

Posted: 11 Oct 2012 07:18 PM PDT

by CNNGo staff

Civet dung coffee? Old news. The big story these days is coffee made with beans that have been pooped out by elephants.

At least that's the claim of Thailand's Anantara hotels, which refines its own beans at its massive elephant camp behind its Golden Triangle resort in Chiang Rai. (More on that below.)

"Research indicates that during digestion, the enzymes of the elephant break down coffee protein," says the resort in a release. "Since protein is one of the main factors responsible for bitterness in coffee, less protein means almost no bitterness."

More on CNN: The Korean godfather of charcoal-roasted coffee

But bitter-free coffee comes with a price. Black Ivory, as elephant dung coffee is called, retails at US$1,100 per kilo -- or $50 a cup -- making it one of the most expensive cups of Joe in the world.

New in China: 'Wolf-blocking' subway platforms planned in Wuhan

Posted: 11 Oct 2012 03:50 PM PDT

by CNNGo staff

They're known as "color wolves" (色狼) -- perverts who stalk the subways of China, combing the peak-hour crowds for vulnerable women to grope.

But in an attempt to thwart the wolf pack, Wuhan subway authority is planning to roll out women-only platforms in every station on Metro Line 2 to combat sexual harassment, according to state-run Wenhui Daily (in simplified Chinese only).

This will be the first subway service aimed at protecting and benefiting women in mainland China.

Women-only platforms, but not carriages

Wuhan's Metro Line 2 is in the final stage of construction. Its first phase, which cost more than RMB 20 billion (US$3.2 billion), is due to start running by the end of 2012. It will link 21 stations over 28 kilometers.

According to the plan, only female passengers will be allowed to wait on the platform next to where the first and second carriages halt during operating hours (7 a.m.-9 p.m.).

iReport: Travel photo of the day -- cute monkeys in a hot tub

Posted: 11 Oct 2012 11:50 AM PDT

by CNNGo staff

Two years ago, we wrote about the hot-spring-loving monkeys in Jigokudani's Monkey Park, a snow mountain in Nagano.

It inspired Rachel Geesa, an art teacher in Seoul from Indiana, United States, to venture on a trip to the area just "to see some monkeys sitting in hot tubs."

She submitted an iReport for the assignment Travel photo of the day. Here is how she recalls the adventure.

Want to submit your own iReport? Head to our assignment desk; scroll to the bottom of this page.

The photo that was selected as CNN's Travel Photo of the Day for October 1, 2012.